Continuing the theme of holidays, one of the highlights of last year was our trip to Cancun. Slightly dubious at first, given its party capital reputation (thankfully it wasn’t spring break season!), Cancun proved to be a place we could relax, unwind and soak up the glorious sunshine. Now this wasn’t our typical kind of holiday – it was our very first all inclusive! I’m not usually one to consider all-inclusive packages as I’d much rather prefer to explore and eat like the locals, but the thought of having food readily available 24/7 made me think otherwise…and where we stayed did not disappoint!

We opted for Oleo Cancun Playa Boutique Resort, located south of the hotel strip on Zona Hotelera – away from the party area. The guests consisted of mainly couples and although family friendly, there were no kids in sight. That said, it’s also not the kind of place you would pick for a stag/bucks or a hen do. Our room was spacious and modern with a breath-taking ocean view.

Our ocean view room

Facilities were clean and maintained to a high standard by the super friendly staff on site. If you’re banking on going to Cancun for the beautiful sea though, think again! Our attempt at hitting the beach was a bit of a fail when we discovered the abundance of seaweed floating in the turquoise Caribbean water – what a total let-down!

Seaweed in the ocean and on the beach

So days were spent lazing by the pool under the 30 degree heat, overlooking the ocean and sipping on premium cocktails served at the pool bar. Shout out to my fave bartender, Angel who looked after us – outstanding service and brilliant cocktails!

Swimming pool overlooking the ocean

Sunbeds by the pool

Pool bar behind

The breakfast buffet had a great selection of both hot and cold options and a station where you can have eggs to your liking, including omelettes with various toppings. The buffet stayed opened till late afternoon before switching over to the dinner service.

View from the breakfast buffet

In the evenings, we had a choice of dining in 2 nice restaurants – Almar, serving Mediterranean cuisine and a Japanese restaurant called Hakka. Or there was the buffet which had different cuisines on rotation throughout the week, ranging from Mexican, Italian to Asian. I was impressed with the quality of food across the resort and although we did venture out for food, there was a good variety to keep us interested for the best part of 2 weeks.

Grilled octopus

Slow cooked beef

Garlic herb chicken

Sea bass

Tuna tataki

Seaweed and cucumber salad

Fish tacos

Salmon tartare

Prawn sushi roll

Fresh fruit – got our 5 a day in!

A few days were spent outside of the resort exploring down town Cancun, getting pampered and doing a spot of shopping. Heading into town was a breeze. Buses will stop anywhere en-route to pick up passengers, which is handy when you have the heat of the sun beating down on you. We also took a couple of day trips out to Isla Mujeres and to Chichen Itza which included jumping into the cenotes – a natural sinkhole 127m deep!

Isla Mujeres

Walking the streets of Isa Mujeres

Coast

Coast

Seaweed also a problem at Isla Mujeres

Streets of Isla Mujeres

Ferry port

Chichen Itza & Cenotes

Mayan ceremony

Chichen Itza ruins

Chichen Itza

127m deep Cenotes

El Castillo

Chichen Itza – where games were played

After plunging into the Cenotes

Delicious dishes from various restaurants we dined at outside the resort.

Stand out meal was at Navios restaurant – across the road from where we stayed. Fresh and tasty seafood on the lagoon.

Cod

Tuna tartare

Grilled mixed seafood

Octopus

It goes without saying, by the end of the trip, I’d eaten more than my weight in food (made the most of the 24 hour room service too!) and dare I say it, I was completely over food for a brief period of time! That didn’t last long though, obviously.

Sunrise in Cancun

We returned to London both tanned, refreshed and 5kg heavier. What damage we did to our waistline in a fortnight! Worth every calorie consumed though! So would I do another all-inclusive? If it was a destination with wall to wall sunshine and not much else to see and do, but I’d probably limit it to 10 days next time. Cancun, you were amazing….we’ll be back!